Lately Iíve been thinking a lot about Dr. Duncan MacDougall. Dr. MacDougall was from Haverhill, Massachusetts; he was not only a man of medicine, but a spiritual man too. He believed he could prove that humans had a soul by weighing a person as they expire to see if there is a difference in weight before and after death. In 1901, the doctor convinced six patients who were dying of tuberculosis to allow him to put their bodies on a special bed attached to a sensitive weight when they were close to passing. He would then see if some weight was lost when these people exhaled their last breath. He figured 21 grams was the average amount of weight that a person lost as they died. To MacDougall, this was proof that the human soul existed, it had weight, and it left when a person died.

To test his theory, Dr. MacDougall euthanized 15 dogs while they were on his scales and noticed the dogs had no loss of weight upon death. To him, this proved that humans have a soul or spirit and animals do not. Dr. MacDougallís tests have been criticized as being both unscientific and unethical and few give much credence to his findings. However, the reason I keep thinking about the doctor and his tests is because I have presented the story of Dr. MacDougall in front of a few lecture audiences recently and I notice the collective groan when I mention the dogs and them not having a spirit.

Ghostvillage.com is filled with many accounts from people who have experienced the ghost of their beloved pet. Others have claimed to hear phantom footfalls of ghostly horses, and legends are filled with many different tales of animal spirits coming back to interact with our world. It makes me question: what is a ghost? Is a ghost the spirit or essence of a living thing that pays a visit? Or is it a living personís memory manifested into some sort of reality such as a semi-translucent figure that we recognize as our lost loved one? These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night. I invite you to stay up late with me as we explore animal ghosts this month!

I certainly hope there are animal ghosts because my only paranormal experience involved a ghost cat! I like to think it was one of my own cats that had at that time recently passed away. The apparition appeared in the living room of a new apartment I had just moved into, so I don't believe it was a residual haunting. My dog also saw the cat at the time it appeared, so it was nice to have that validation, even if it was from another animal!

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be.Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

A few years ago, my 14 year old buddy, Squeaky, had a tumor eating away at his jaw. The vet finally said it was time for him to go because he was suffering. I'd had time to mentally prepare for the moment, but then you're never really prepared for it.

Later in the day, I was back home depressed but keeping busy by making the bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his big, furry butt and crooked tail leaving the bedroom. I looked in the living room, and of course there were no cats near the door.

I had two other cats then, but their tails are long and slender, and they are short-haired, skinny cats. They were at other ends of the rooms and not near the door to the bedroom.

It was a cool experience. I still question if I really saw him, but then again I know what I saw.

Carlotta

Who owns the land? Only the land knows. We mortals are passersby, and our lives are but a brief moment in the great span of time and space. We are born, we live out our lives, and most of us do the best we can with it, but the wind is forever, and the rivers flow forever to the sea, and all the seasons of the weathers will come and go after we are gone. But the Earth endures, the Earth is eternal" - Earl Hamner

It is as Carlotta said: You can prepare yourself for their death, but it's still really hard when it happens.

I had a beloved dog of many years that I had to put down when her cancer became too painful. I got another dog soon after because I love dogs. One day not too long after I was in the bathroom standing before the mirror. I felt a light pressure on the back of my legs and thought it was the new dog, but I looked into the living room and she was looking at the TV. Then I knew it was my old dog.

As an avid animal lover and rescuer, I have had many a spirit of a loved pet make a visit and hang about for a time. Seeing them, feeling them and hearing them move about the house, its quite a joy to know they are fine and still showing how much they loved us too.

One story I have is about my cat Allie, he passed very tragically, I actaully had to stop his suffering myself. The guilt I went through was horrible. I loved him so, but knew what I needed to do that late night.
A few days later, I was laying on my bed, needing a nap, and I heard little foot pads near my bed, then I felt someone jump up on my bed and walk towards me. I looked up to see if it was one of my other cats and there was no one to be seen. I layed back and moments later I felt a rub on my chin as Allie used to do all the time. I knew at that moment he was ok and not angry with me for what I had to do.
My daughter had also seen him laying on our washer as he did many times waiting to come into the house.

Recently, Greg and I lost our best friend Keyes the rat. Before his passing, he slept with me as I layed down to take a nap. He layed with me for quite some time, he like to lay across my neck. I didn't know he left me. I woke to Greg almost sobbing as he tells me Keyes came to him, fell asleep in his arms and passed away. Many times our pets know when they are leaving us and seem to find a gentle way of telling us good bye.
Keyes had a little spirit friend in our loft apt. We never quite figured out exactly what sort of little critter it was, we think it was a rat. Many times we would get into bed and thought it was Keyes getting in with us and there would be no Keyes. He also acted many times as if he was playing with someone. The first time we really noticed this little guy, was when we saw the sheets moving on the bed and thought it was Keyes under them. We of course checked to see what he was up to and there was no Keyes in the bed! We felt and sometimes saw a shadow of this little guy so many times it was kinda wild.

After going back to California to get my pets, my one cats Mitty was so sick when we got home. We tried for a year to get his health back, but with his age and lung issues, we lost him this past Oct. Now sometime back in CA, we had Mitty's brother Seven, that I raised since they were kittens. He got out of the house one day and a coyote got him. When Mitty passed away, we were outside burying him. As we finished, Greg looked up and under one of the nearby trees he thought he saw Mitty. He was telling me and in my tears I looked to see and said "OMG, it's Seven". I told Greg he has come to take his brother home. Just then my daughter had come home and she knew we were burying Mitty and she saw Seven under the tree and broke out in tears. She said then same thing as I did to Greg. We knew in our hearts what we saw and felt that moment and it was a very good feeling.

Some people thinks it's crazy how we love our pets and tell the tales of their passing and what we have seen or felt after, but there are so many stories out there, that I can't say they don't have spirits or souls.

Interests:Everything paranormal, but especially the Bridgewater Triangle. When not investigating the unexplainable, I like to read, write, walk my little white dog Malcolm, garden, cook and paint.

Posted 09 March 2012 - 08:08 AM

Here's something I wonder about: Do you think that animal spirits are more visible/appear more often to other animals?

We've had a number of pets, and my dog, who barks incessantly at people, will oftentimes stare off into nothingness and track it with his eyes with great curiosity - as if he's watching another animal. His line of vision would make sense because he's small, and is looking straight across at something instead of looking up, like he would a human...

And I'm seeing a trend here with more CATS showing themselves than dogs - Is it because cats are more intelligent and seem to possess a more spiritual or ethereal aspect? Have you ever heard of a witch without a cat friend (how many ever had dogs?).

We have had a few cats, and we used to take in ferals - Kitty lived to be 20 and Wendy Whiner lived to be 21...Sophie got sick and had to be put down at the tender age of six - I don't know which one of them it is, but in the late afternoon, I will often hear a sound coming from the upstairs bedroom that sounds exactly like a cat jumping down from one of the beds.

The sound is a definite "tha-thump"! This is not something I look for or wait for; it happens at times when I'm not even thinking about it - but each time, I know it's a cat. With three cats, I remember that sound distinctly...especially when they would hear me making food and would jump down and scurry down the stairs.

Another thing I should bring up is I was told by a medium (doing a tarot card reading for me) that my father, who passed away almost 20 years ago, doesn't know how to communicate, but being an animal lover, he instead uses my dog to let me know of his presence. This medium had never seen my dog, Malcolm, but she said that my dad prompts a little white dog and when that dog nudges me out of the blue, it's sometimes my dad saying hi. Malcolm is a white Bichon Bolognese. So, is it possible that, for some people who have passed over, they use our pets to talk to us? Or maybe, they use their own passed pets to talk to us or our pets?

Cool stuff to ponder!! Love this place, thanks!

Apparitions are often confused with hauntings. The difference is that apparitions are "live" (intelligent consciousness) and hauntings are "recordings."- LOYD AUERBACH, interview

I don't believe that spirits appear more often to animals because they are around us all the time, but I believe they are seen more often by them because their 3rd eyes are still open.

I think that most of us with pets see them watching things we cannot see. It's pretty cool.

It's wonderful that your father is using your dog to help him communicate with you.

I think he is afraid that direct communication would scare you badly and that is why he's holding back. Since he is as close as a thought, why don't you just talk to him and tell about it. He'd love to hear it from your own mouth. Remember: love never dies.

So many times I have had animals come to me to let their family know that they are okay.

I had one dog give instructions to the family about the new dog they had and to get rid of the mat that they had for him. The dog kept chewing up the new mats.

Another dog told his momma that they could give the new dog his toys except two and the toys I described were his favorite! That dog was special because he also had the ability to tell when people were sick. He would jump up and start gently nibbling on an area of someone and that area is exactly where they were diagnosed.

My cat was being looked after by my son while I was on vacation and she bolted out of his apartment the first day there. We searched for a week with no luck. After 11 weeks I had given up all hope. One night I was awoken by her familiar purr and felt her climb up on my bed and cuddle next to my face. I was shocked and could make no sense of the very real sensations I was feeling. Had she come back and got in the house somehow? Upon turning the light on I found nothing on my bed. I assumed it was her spirit visiting me and resigned myself to the fact that she had finally died out in the wild.
The next day my son called with incredible news. A neighbor had found her! I went to retrieve her and was told that the night before, she had climbed up on their bed and cuddled into the face of the woman who had found her.
Was her spirit projecting to me to tell me she was all right? It was interesting to say the least.

I asked my Anthropology of the Paranormal & Supernatural teacher about animal ghosts and little while back when we were discussing human ghost apparitions, because the topic of animal ghosts had not been brought up.

I asked if people regularly report seeing animal ghosts as well. He says that the most common apparition seen is a human apparition; but, almost as common as the human apparitions are cat apparitions. Dogs, horses, and other animals, not so much.. they are much farther down the number of reports seen.. but humans and cats seem to be much higher. Humans, understandable.. but the cat ghosts I found interesting.

Personally, I believe that animals do have souls.. at least certain animals. The fish.. I'm not so sure of, but animals like the cat, dog, horse, pig, dolphin.. makes total sense that they would have a soul. To me, it's hard to believe that an animal who can learn, adapt, and show emotion (anyone who says that a cat or dog doesnt have emotions haven't fallen in love with a pet or BAD_WORD off a dachsund), wouldn't have a soul.

With all that being said, I have seen the apparition of a cat ghost before.. a long time ago. Not a cat that I knew in the past, but something that looked like a cat.

(anyone who says that a cat or dog doesnt have emotions haven't fallen in love with a pet or BAD_WORD off a dachsund),